


I miss you, I need you, I want you, come back

by swallowthewhale



Series: Lemon Dreams [47]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Two Years Later, after season 5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:21:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24923797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swallowthewhale/pseuds/swallowthewhale
Summary: Cisco leaves Star Labs after taking the metahuman cure and doesn't look back... until Caitlin is in trouble.
Relationships: Cisco Ramon/Caitlin Snow
Series: Lemon Dreams [47]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/734043
Comments: 7
Kudos: 11





	I miss you, I need you, I want you, come back

**Author's Note:**

> For an anon on tumblr who asked (a year ago) for "Caitlin gets badly hurt and Cisco comes back after being away for a long time and not being in contact with her?"

Things had started out okay. Cisco and Caitlin got lunch on weekends, and met for coffee, and had movie nights. He texted her when he saw a cute puppy in the park, and she called him to rant about the new anti-women’s health laws sweeping the country. They were still best friends.

When Cisco started Ramon Industries, Caitlin went to the launch party, she cheered for him when he gave his speech, she made polite conversation with his girlfriend, and she went to Star Labs afterwards to let out her frustration in the pipeline. The texts, and lunch dates, and movie nights started to vanish. Caitlin found herself calling him for the third time in a week only to get his voicemail yet again. He emailed every once in a while, always with apologies and excuses. Caitlin went to his wedding and barely got to talk to him. She stopped trying.

Barry and Iris seemed just as hurt and frustrated, but whenever Barry started to vent in the cortex, Iris would lay a hand on his arm with a glance toward Caitlin, who would be staring tight-lipped at her computer screen, and he would stop. They don’t talk about Cisco anymore, and Caitlin throws herself into being Killer Frost in order to fill the aching hole in her life.

Barry is still out in the field, having run back after bringing Caitlin into the med bay. Iris stands over her, chewing worriedly on her thumb as she scans Caitlin’s vitals.

Caitlin coughs, hand pressed over the wound in her side. “I’ll be fine, Iris.”

Iris glares at her. “I don’t think you can stitch yourself up again,” she snaps. “You nearly died last time we tried that.”

Caitlin inhales shakily, reaching for another gauze pad. “I can just turn into Frost.” 

Iris gently slaps her hand aside, getting the gauze herself and pressing it to Caitlin’s stomach. “It’s not working, though, is it?”

Caitlin grimaces. “It _will_ work.”

Iris sighs and backs away. “I’ll be right back.” She closes the door to the med bay behind her and picks up her phone from the table, staring at it indecisively for a long moment. Then she makes up her mind and dials. “It’s Caitlin,” she says when he answers.

It’s been two years since Iris saw Cisco last, and he looks much the same. Hair brushing his shoulders, tanned skin, geeky t-shirt. Except now there are lines around his eyes and a desperation Iris hasn’t seen in a long time. She’s only seen this look on his face once before, when they were in much the same situation as they are now.

“Where is she?” Cisco asks.

Iris points to the med back, but stops him before he can rush in. “I didn’t tell her I called you.”

Cisco doesn’t seem to understand the implications of this, because he turns deathly white under his tan when he opens the door and Caitlin flatly tells him to get out.

He seems hurt and baffled, and Iris sits wearily in the cortex to explain exactly what things have been like in Star Labs for the past few years. 

“You don’t understand,” Iris says, as gently as she can manage, given how angry at Cisco she is herself. “You left her alone. She’s been throwing herself into danger unnecessarily every day because she’s got nothing to live for anymore.”

Cisco’s mouth opens and closes uselessly for a second before he says, “But she has you and Barry.”

“And we love her,” Iris says patiently. “But it’s not the same.”

Iris leaves Cisco to stew and goes to check on Caitlin.

“Is he gone?” Caitlin asks immediately.

Iris shakes her head. “Let me look at that.”

It’s a mess, still bleeding sluggishly. 

“You need to have that looked at,” Iris says.

“I looked at it,” Caitlin protests. “It doesn’t need stitches.”

Iris nearly rolls her eyes. “Just let him help,” she orders. “He owes it to you.”

Iris had expected Caitlin to bristle and argue, but she slumps down, defeated. A little too easily, Iris thinks, which probably means she’s hurt more than she’s admitting.

Iris waves Cisco in. He approaches slowly and Caitlin lifts her hands so he can look at the cut, but she keeps her own gaze locked on the wall.

“I have something that can help,” Cisco finally says, replacing the gauze. “I can go get it.”

Iris eyes him warily. “What is it?”

“Some new tech I’ve been working on,” Cisco says quietly. “Better than stitches. I’ll be right back.”

Iris opens her mouth to argue, but the door is already closing behind him. She sighs instead and sits next to the cot. “You okay?”

“Why did you call him?” Caitlin asks, and oh boy, Iris can already hear the tears building. Caitlin doesn’t cry often. It’s terrifying when she does.

“Who else was I supposed to call? 9-1-1?”

“Maybe that would’ve been better,” Caitlin mutters.

“I don’t think it’s me you’re angry at,” Iris says gently, and Caitlin droops.

“No,” she says, finally meeting Iris’s eyes. “Why now? Why after so long?”

Iris smooths Caitlin’s hair back. “I don’t know why he disappeared on you, but I know he stillcares about you. He came, didn’t he?”

“Because you asked him to,” Caitlin replies bitterly.

“No,” Iris says. “All I had to say was that you were hurt and he was already halfway here.” 

Caitlin looks away, her eyes are starting to glaze over, and Iris is worried she’s about to pass out when Cisco comes back in the room. He got back suspiciously quickly, but Caitlin doesn’t seem to notice. She’s even looking at Cisco, in a way that Iris wonders if she even knows he’s really there.

Cisco moves with a practiced ease he didn’t used to have, pulling the gauze away and pressing a small, rectangular piece of stainless steel against Caitlin’s side. The bottom glows with a faint blue light while Cisco presses buttons on the screen. They wait for a few minutes, the only sound in the room the steady beeping of Caitlin’s heart monitor and her shallow breathing. Then the blue light clicks off and Cisco pulls the device away, sealing it in a plastic biohazard bag and setting it aside. He wets some fresh gauze and cleans away the blood on Caitlin’s stomach, revealing a pink, puckered scar where the gash was, almost perfectly parallel to Caitlin’s old scar where she was hit with shrapnel years ago.

He tapes a square piece of gauze over the scar and backs away slowly. “It’ll be tender for a few days. Just keep it clean and you’ll be all good.”

Iris can’t really tell if he’s talking to her or Caitlin, who’s watching him with wide, sad eyes. He’s not looking at either of them, and all of his confidence from earlier is gone. He’s fiddling with the latex gloves he just took off, looking down at his hands. Iris edges out of the room as quietly as possible, hoping that they’ll _finally_ talk.

“I’m sorry,” Cisco says, still not looking directly at Caitlin. “I shouldn’t have disappeared on you like that.”

Caitlin blinks at him slowly. “Then why did you?”

He sighs and tosses the gloves in the garbage, perching on the edge of the chair next to the cot. “I was worried,” he admits, “that if I spent too much time with any of you that I would be tempted to come back. And I didn’t want to come back to Star Labs.”

“Are you happy?” Caitlin asks.

Cisco looks away. “No, not really.”

Caitlin reaches out a hand. “Then come home.”

Cisco frowns miserably. “I don’t know where home is anymore.”

She slips her hand into his. “It’s wherever you’re happy.” 


End file.
